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Beach volleyball
14/01/2018

Latvians gain beach volleyball entry in FIVB World Tour record book

Lausanne, Switzerland, January 14, 2018 - While Alix Klineman of the United States was making a splash on the international beach volleyball circuit by winning a gold medal in her first-ever FIVB World Tour appearance, Latvians Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs also entered their names in the record book by winning gold at the Dela Beach Open January 7 in their first event together.

After Klineman and Ross netted gold by defeating Brazilians Maria Antonelli and Carolina Salgado 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) in the women's Dela Beach Open, Plavins and Tocs posted a 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) victory over Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak of Poland in the men's finale at the indoor arena at Sportcampus Zuiderpark in The Hague.

The back-to-back gold medal wins by new teams marked the 30th and 31st-time that first-time pairs captured titles in their first-ever FIVB World Tour events together. It marked the 19th-time for men since the start of male competition in 1987 (372 events) and the 12th-time for women since the first female event in 1992 (336 events).

“I think after this tournament it will just get harder,” Plavins was quoted in the event's final recap. “We are still a new team and we will make a lot of mistakes, but this tournament we played really well and made no mistakes and got lucky sometimes, but we’re still happy we’ve won the final.”

The gold medal was Tocs' first in 20 World Tour appearances. “It was a perfect week,” said the 29-year old Tocs, who had posted a ninth with Rihards Finsters for his best previous FIVB World Tour finish at a November 2016 stop in Doha, Oatar.

A two-time Olympian with a bronze with Janis Smedins at the London 2012 Summer Games, the 32-year old Plavins has now won three gold medals with seven podium placements and 10 final four finishes in 129 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour starts since 2005.

A week after their gold medal performance in the Netherlands, Plavins and Tocs posted a bronze medal finish at the CEV Masters event in the Czech Republic as the Latvians won six of eight matches in the Pelhrimov stop. Plavins and Tocs posted a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) win in the 33-minute third-place match over Austrians Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst.

In the men's Pelhrimov finale, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands defeated Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak of Poland 2-0 (24-22, 22-20) in 41 minutes. The women's Pelhrimov event featured teams from the Czech Republic, Latvia and Finland.